Search Results (167)

Lexicographic preference trees (LP-Trees) provide a compact and expressive representation for modeling complex decision-making scenarios, yet measuring similarity between complete or partial structures remains a challenge. This study introduces PLPSim, a novel metric for quantifying alignment between partial lexicographic preference trees (PLP-Trees) and develops three coalition formation algorithms—HRECS1, HRECS2, and HRECS3—that leverage PLPSim to group agents with similar preferences. We further propose ContractLex and PriceLex protocols (comprising CLF, CFB, CFW, CFA, CFP) for coalition-based contract and pricing strategies, along with a new evaluation metric, F@Lex, which is designed to assess satisfaction under lexicographic preferences. To illustrate the framework, we generate a synthetic dataset (PLPGen) contextualized in a hybrid renewable energy market, where consumers’ PLP-Trees are aggregated and matched with suppliers’ tariff contracts. Experiments across 162 market scenarios, evaluated using Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain (nDCG), Davies–Bouldin dispersion, and F@Lex, demonstrate that PLPSim-based coalitions outperform baseline approaches. The combination HRECS3 + CFP yields the highest consumer satisfaction, while HRECS3 + CFB achieves balanced satisfaction for both consumers and suppliers. While electricity tariffs and renewable energy contracts—static and dynamic—serve as the motivating example, the proposed framework generalizes to diverse multi-agent systems, offering a foundation for preference-driven coalition formation, adaptive policy design, and sustainable market optimization. Full article

Diagnosing fractures in hummingbirds is challenging because of their small size. This study evaluated the diagnostic performance and inter-reviewer agreement of four imaging modalities—conventional radiography, dental radiography, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), and three-dimensional (3D)-reconstructed images from micro-CT scans—for identifying fractures in 16 ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) admitted to a wildlife hospital. Six independent reviewers, with or in training for a specialty in veterinary radiology or wildlife medicine, assessed randomized image sets. Gross dissection of the carcasses using dermestid beetle larvae established the gold standard. Diagnostic performance metrics—sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios—were calculated for each modality. Inter-reviewer agreement was assessed using Fleiss’ kappa. Our results demonstrated that advanced imaging techniques improved diagnostic performance and inter-reviewer agreement compared to traditional radiography. While specificity (>88%) was comparable to other small animal studies, the sensitivity did not exceed 50% across all modalities. This low sensitivity reflects the challenges posed by minimal fracture displacement and hummingbirds’ extremely small size. Only 3D images achieved high positive likelihood ratios and superior inter-reviewer agreement, highlighting the unique value of 3D visualization in complex anatomical evaluations. Overall, the minute structures of hummingbirds present inherent diagnostic limitations, underscoring that negative radiographic results must be interpreted cautiously, and the possibility of false negatives should prompt consideration of advanced or follow-up imaging when clinical suspicion persists. Full article

Wastewater treatment technology is constantly evolving not only to respond to changes in the composition and quantity of incoming water, but also to ensure that the process and result of wastewater treatment comply with applicable legislation. This article will focus on the integration of energy regulations into the wastewater treatment process. One of the key documents is Lex OZE III, which is an energy law, but has a direct impact on WWTPs, especially in the field of renewable resources and energy self-sufficiency. The entire energy sector is undergoing dynamic changes, and the increase in energy prices is increasing pressure regarding the optimization of its costs and use of new energy trends in the field of wastewater treatment, ensuring effective local production using the potential of the WWTP to cover its own energy consumption. Full article

The rapid growth of digital journalism has heightened the need for reliable multi-document summarization (MDS) systems, particularly in underrepresented, low-resource, and culturally distinct contexts. However, current progress is hindered by a lack of large-scale, high-quality non-Western datasets. Existing benchmarks—such as CNN/DailyMail, XSum, and MultiNews—are limited by language, regional focus, or reliance on noisy, auto-generated summaries. We introduce NewsSumm, the largest human-annotated MDS dataset for Indian English, curated by over 14,000 expert annotators through the Suvidha Foundation. Spanning 36 Indian English newspapers from 2000 to 2025 and covering more than 20 topical categories, NewsSumm includes over 317,498 articles paired with factually accurate, professionally written abstractive summaries. We detail its robust collection, annotation, and quality control pipelines, and present extensive statistical, linguistic, and temporal analyses that underscore its scale and diversity. To establish benchmarks, we evaluate PEGASUS, BART, and T5 models on NewsSumm, reporting aggregate and category-specific ROUGE scores, as well as factual consistency metrics. All NewsSumm dataset materials are openly released via Zenodo. NewsSumm offers a foundational resource for advancing research in summarization, factuality, timeline synthesis, and domain adaptation for Indian English and other low-resource language settings. Full article

Romanian popular music has had a storied history across the last century and a half. Incorporating different influences at different times, today it boasts a wide range of both autochthonous and imported genres, such as traditional folk music, rock, rap, pop, and manele, to name a few. We aim to trace the linguistic differences between the lyrics of these genres using natural language processing and a computational linguistics approach by studying the prosodic, stylistic, syntactic, and sentiment-based features of each genre. For this purpose, we have crawled a dataset of ~14,000 Romanian songs from publicly available websites along with the user-provided genre labels, and characterized each song and each genre, respectively, with regard to these features, discussing similarities and differences. We improve on existing tools for Romanian language natural language processing by building a lexical analysis library well suited to song lyrics or poetry which encodes a set of 17 linguistic features. In addition, we build lexical analysis tools for profanity-based features and improve the SentiLex sentiment analysis library by manually rebalancing its lexemes to overcome the limitations introduced by it having been machine translated into Romanian. We estimate the accuracy gain using a benchmark Romanian sentiment analysis dataset and register a 25% increase in accuracy over the SentiLex baseline. The contribution is meant to describe the characteristics of the Romanian expression of autochthonous as well as international genres and provide technical support to researchers in natural language processing, musicology or the digital humanities in studying the lyrical content of Romanian music. We have released our data and code for research use. Full article

In COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), multi-organ complications depend on the immune system’s activity. α1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a highly glycosylated positive acute-phase protein having multifaceted immunomodulatory and protective effects. We were interested in changes in serum AGP concentrations, expression of its glycans, and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) between severe COVID-19 patients, convalescents, and healthy controls, and whether any of the analyzed parameters could serve as an additional diagnostic biomarker of severe COVID-19 and/or help monitor recovery. We were also interested in associations between the examined parameters. AGP concentrations were measured using an immunoturbidimetric method. The profile and degree of AGP glycosylation were analyzed using lectin-ELISA with lectins: sialo-specific from Sambucus nigra (SNA) and Maackia amurensis (MAA), fucose-specific from Lotus tetragonolobus (LTA) and Aleuria aurantia (AAL). The static and capacitive ORP (sORP and cORP, respectively) were measured using MiOXSYS C+^® device (Caerus Biotechnologies, Vilnius, Lithuania). Statistica13.3PL software was used for statistical analysis. AGP concentrations increased in COVID-19 patients, showing high clinical usefulness in distinguishing them from convalescents and controls. AGP α2,6-sialylation (reactivity with SNA) was reduced in COVID-19 vs. other study groups, while α2,3-sialylation (reactivity with MAA) was reduced in convalescents vs. controls. The expression of LTA-reactive fucose (Lewis^x structures, Le^x) was reduced in COVID-19 patients compared to controls and convalescents, but AGP reactivity with AAL did not differ between the study groups. The sORP was reduced, and the cORP was increased in COVID-19. The observed negative correlations between sORP and AGP levels may suggest the antioxidant effect of AGP during severe COVID-19. Higher levels of serum AGP in severe COVID-19, together with low expression of sialic acid α2,6-linked and Le^x structures, accompanied by reduced sORP, constitute a characteristic pattern of biomarker expression during severe COVID-19. The increased expression of SNA-reactive sialic acid and Le^x structures may reflect the recovery process after SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. The observed negative correlations between AGP and sORP levels may suggest that serum AGP in COVID-19 also plays a role as an antioxidative molecule. Full article

Background/Objectives: This report examines the future of academic studies involving investigational therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals within the framework of Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014. It discusses the impact of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements (EudraLex-Volume 4-Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines) on the development of radiopharmaceuticals, based on local experience and analysis. Methods: The report was drafted by analysing multiple factors, including the European regulatory context regarding EMA guidance for investigational medicinal products (IMPs) and GMP requirements for radiopharmaceuticals, as well as position papers from various scientific associations. An analysis of all the relevant changes was conducted by a multidisciplinary team comprising radiopharmacists, nuclear medicine physicians, research experts and technology transfer specialists. They conducted a literature review to examine the clinical implications of the regulatory change and assess the impact of Regulation 536/2014 on academic clinical trials. Results: IRST has around 20 years’ experience in radiopharmaceutical clinical research. From 2008 to 2025, it conducted 16 clinical trials with radiopharmaceuticals under the Directive, and it is currently promoting five studies under the Regulation. During this time, more than 1000 patients were enrolled. The transition was based on staff training in quality documentation, the constitution of a contract research organisation (CRO) to ensure data quality and transfer, careful budget planning, the evaluation of innovative business models and the role of a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). These integrated approaches enabled IRST to transform regulatory constraints into an opportunity to enhance its organisational model, improve data reliability, and strengthen its position as a centre of excellence for radiopharmaceutical research and production. Conclusions: The implementation of EU Regulation 536/2014 has significantly impacted academic research centres, especially those specialising in radiopharmaceuticals. Adhering to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals requires a considerable investment in infrastructure and personnel. However, the regulation also presents opportunities for research centres to enhance their capabilities. Meeting GMP standards can help institutions improve the quality and reliability of their clinical trials, potentially making them more competitive in the international research arena. Full article

Background: Chronic pain (CP) is one of the biggest burdens for health systems across the globe. It frequently presents in conjunction with comorbidities and considerable challenges for the maintenance of homeostasis and well-being. The lack of long-term effective treatments requires further attention and innovative approaches from the health care community. The present observational study aims to prove the feasibility of a breathing protocol focused on long exhalations (LEx) as a complementary treatment for CP populations. Methods: Eighteen CP patients (nine men and nine women) were selected for this observational pilot study. The inclusion criteria were having pain for more than 3 months, not having any previous experience with breathing exercises and not having a clinical diagnosis for the condition suffered. In addition to the usual physiotherapy care, the participants were trained in breathing techniques and the effects of LEx. Before each appointment, the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) and exhalatory times were registered. The data analysis consisted of a repeated measures ANOVA and a Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results: A total of 18 participants completed the breath intervention and the assessments. All participants improved their exhalation times by 4.78 s (SD = 3.19) or 64% (F = 45.62, p < 0.001) and their pain scores: NPRS by 2.55 units (SD = 2.2) or 47% (F = 34.19, p < 0.001); and PCS by 11.34 units (SD = 16.05) or 33% (F = 24.05, p < 0.001). There was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.49, p = 0.05) between exhalation times and NPRS. Conclusions: Breathing techniques focused on LEx in combination with the usual physiotherapy care are a feasible pain management protocol to reduce subjective pain perception and pain catastrophizing scores. Long-term studies with bigger samples might benefit from the inclusion of accurate and reproducible measures for exhalation times. Full article

Food safety hazards induce diverse cellular damages including DNA damage, oxidative stress, proteotoxic stress, and membrane disruption, ultimately contributing to various human diseases. Conventional toxicity assays, while effective, are often resource-intensive and lack the capacity to distinguish among these different damage types, thereby limiting insight into toxic responses and the development of effective strategies for targeted risk mitigation. Here, we constructed a panel of Escherichia coli whole-cell biosensors capable of distinguishing distinct categories of cellular damage. Specifically, an optimized RecA-LexA-based DNA damage biosensor that precisely controls the exogenous expression of the transcriptional repressor LexA achieved a 35.5% reduction in baseline signal and a 36.6-fold induction of fluorescence. In parallel, systematic promoter screening identified P_fpr, P_katG, P_grpE, and P_fabA as effective modules for constructing oxidative, proteotoxic, and membrane stress biosensors. These biosensors exhibited high specificity and sensitivity, generating dose-dependent responses to model toxicants and enabling discrimination of cellular damage induced by typical hazards such as norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Notably, the DNA damage biosensor detected norfloxacin with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.3 ng/mL in standard solution and 3.0 ng/mL in milk, comparable to that of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Together, our work not only provides a versatile, cost-effective, and sensitive tool for assessing diverse cellular damages induced by food safety hazards, but also demonstrates potential utility for practical food safety monitoring. Full article

While significant progress has been made in understanding the heterogeneity of Neural Stem Cells (NSCs), our understanding of similar heterogeneity among the more abundant transit amplifying progenitors is lagging. Our work on the neural progenitors (NPs) of the neonatal subventricular zone (SVZ) began over a decade ago, when we used antibodies to the four antigens, CD133, LeX, CD140a, and NG2 to perform Fluorescence-activated cell sorting to classify subsets of the neonatal mouse SVZ as either multi-potential (MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4 and PFMPs), glial-restricted (GRP1, GRP2, and GRP3), or neuron-astrocyte restricted (BNAP). Using RNA sequencing, we have characterized the distinctive molecular fingerprints of four SVZ neural progenitor subtypes and compared their gene expression profiles to those of the NSCs. We performed bioinformatic analyses to provide insights into each NP type’s unique interactome and the transcription factors regulating their development. Overall, we identified 1581 genes upregulated in at least one NP subset compared to the NSCs. Of these genes, 796 genes were upregulated in BNAP/GRP1 compared to NSCs; 653 in GRP2/MP3; 440 in GRP3; and 527 in PFMPs. One gene that emerged from our analysis that can be used to distinguish the NPs from the NSCs is Etv1, also known as Er81. Also notable is that the NSCs downregulated cilia formation genes as they differentiated to become multipotential progenitors. Among the NPs, both PFMP and GRP3 subtypes differentially expressed genes related to neuron and oligodendrocyte development, including Matn4, Lhfpl3 and Olig2. GRP3s uniquely expressed Etv5, a transcription factor known to promote glial cell fate specification, while PFMPs uniquely expressed Lhx6, a transcription factor that regulates interneuron specification. PFMPs also expressed transcripts for olfactory receptors. Unlike the other NPs, the GRP1 and GRP2 NPs upregulated expression of genes for proteins involved in immune function. The present work will serve as an important resource for investigators interested in further defining the transit amplifying progenitors of the mammalian SVZ. Full article

One of the most challenging tasks in studying streamflow is quantifying how the complexities of environmental and dynamic parameters contribute to the overall system complexity. To address this, we employed Kolmogorov complexity (KC) metrics, specifically the Kolmogorov complexity spectrum (KC spectrum) and the Kolmogorov complexity plane (KC plane). These measures were applied to monthly streamflow time series averaged across 1879 gauge stations on U.S. rivers over the period 1950–2015. The variables analyzed included streamflow as a complex physical system, along with its key components: temperature, precipitation, and the Lyapunov exponent (LEX), which represents river dynamics. Using these metrics, we calculated normalized KC spectra for each position within the KC plane, visualizing interactive master amplitudes alongside individual amplitudes on overlapping two-dimensional planes. We further computed the relative change in complexities (RCC) of the normalized master and individual components within the KC plane, ranging from 0 to 1 in defined intervals. Based on these results, we analyzed and discussed the complexity patterns of U.S. rivers corresponding to each interval of normalized amplitudes. Full article

Little research has studied verb inflection and argument structure complexity effects in teenagers with developmental language disorders (DLDs). However, verb production and comprehension deficits that characterize younger children with DLD might persist over time. Seventeen French-speaking teenagers with DLD and seventeen controls (typical language, TL group) were tested with fLEX, an application designed to assess lexical and inflectional production and comprehension of three different verb types: intransitives, transitives and ditransitives, i.e., verbs that require none, one or two overt complements. Participants performed three tasks: action naming, sentence production and sentence comprehension involving third singular and plural present tense. Both groups performed similarly on action naming. Subject–verb agreement errors characterized participants with DLD both in sentence production and comprehension; however, verb–argument structure had no effect on any of the tasks. These results characterize verb deficits in teenagers with DLD as affecting inflectional processes rather than lexical ones: they are found in production and comprehension, persist until adolescence and are thus a target for evaluation and intervention in French-speaking teenagers. Results are discussed from a cross-linguistic perspective and in light of current theories on DLD. Full article

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the color stability and microhardness of two resin composites, a BPA-based composite (Luna) and a BPA-free composite (Luna 2), after immersion in chlorhexidine (CHX), using two different polishing protocols. Methods: Disks (7 mm diameter × 2 mm thickness) were prepared and divided into three groups per material: unpolished, Sof-Lex, and FlexiDisc polished (n = 20 per group). The specimens were immersed daily in either 0.12% CHX or distilled water for 21 days. Color change (ΔE) was measured at 7, 14, and 21 days using a spectrophotometer. Microhardness was evaluated at each time point using a Vickers hardness tester (200 g load, 10 s dwell time). Results: Luna 2 exhibited significant discoloration from day 14, while Luna showed significant color change on day 21 (p < 0.05). After 21 days of CHX immersion, unpolished Luna reached a ΔE value of 6.27 ± 1.69, exceeding the clinically acceptable threshold. At 14 days, Sof-Lex polishing significantly improved color stability compared to unpolished controls for both materials (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between the two polishing systems over time (p > 0.05). Luna 2 demonstrated significantly higher microhardness at all evaluated time points (p < 0.001). Both composites exhibited slight reductions in microhardness over time, which were more pronounced in Luna (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Polishing enhanced the color stability of both composites. Luna 2 exhibited superior microhardness compared to Luna, and polishing had no significant effect on this property. Given the increasing clinical shift toward BPA-free materials due to biocompatibility concerns, these findings offer relevant guidance for optimizing the long-term esthetic and mechanical performance of modern resin-based restorations. Full article

LexTALE has emerged as a popular measure of language proficiency in research studies. While it has been widely validated for L2 learners across multiple languages, its applicability to heritage language learners (HLLs)—who often show distinct language development from L2ers—has not been established. Here, we evaluate the Spanish version of LexTALE (LexTALE-Esp) as a predictor of writing proficiency among college-aged HLLs in the United States. We show that LexTALE-Esp scores significantly correlate with ACTFL-rated functional writing levels and outperform self-assessment as a predictor of proficiency. Our results suggest that, despite concerns about HLLs’ limited experience with written texts in the heritage language, vocabulary-based tasks capture core aspects of written language ability. These findings indicate that vocabulary-based tests like LexTALE-Esp capture proficiency-relevant lexical knowledge across speaker profiles and may tap into dimensions of both core and extended language competence. Full article

Previous studies on decision strategies in multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) have primarily relied on computational simulations to assess strategy performance under varying conditions, with particular emphasis on comparisons to the weighted additive rule (WAD) and on evaluations of the cognitive effort required. In contrast, considerably less attention has been devoted to examining the consistency of decision outcomes across different strategies or to developing a systematic classification of strategies based on outcome similarity. To address this gap, the present study investigates the characteristics of decision strategies by analyzing the concordance rates of choices made under identical conditions, along with measures of decision accuracy and information-processing effort. We conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis and applied multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) to a choice concordance matrix derived from simulations using the Mersenne Twister method. In addition, linear multiple regression analyses were performed using the MDS coordinates as predictors of both decision accuracy and cognitive effort. The cluster analysis revealed a primary bifurcation between two major groups: one centered around the Disjunctive (DIS) rule, and another encompassing compensatory strategies such as WAD. Notably, although the Lexicographic (LEX) rule is traditionally considered non-compensatory, it exhibited high similarity in choice patterns to compensatory strategies when assessed via concordance rates. In contrast, DIS-based strategies produced markedly distinct choice patterns. Full article